Impeachment hearing exposes 'absolute coverup by White House', as former top aide dodges questions
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Your support makes all the difference.Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee have launched the first impeachment hearings into allegations that Donald Trump obstructed justice and abused power, with the president's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appearing before the committee as the first witness to testify on questions that were raised by the Mueller report released earlier this year.
The witness had been gagged by the White House, however, and two more aides – Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter – were reportedly told to ignore subpoenas and not attend the session with the Democratic-led panel on the grounds that they are protected by “absolute immunity”.
"The White House has no authority legal or otherwise to give these orders," House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler said of those gags.
But, Mr Lewandowski nevertheless refused to answer questions from Democrats, citing a gag letter from the White House, where he never worked.
The president’s latest campaign rally on Monday evening saw him attempt to appeal to the Hispanic voters of New Mexico he alienated in 2016, a day bookended by his calls for resignations at The New York Times over the latest sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh and a new poll forecasting Mr Trump’s defeat in key 2020 swing states.
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Mr Lewandowski says the "we would have worked with them" if they had been informed of potential Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr Lewandowski is noting that he knew that Jeff Sessions recused himself from matters related to the special prosecutor, but that he did not think much about it.
He took issue with a line of questioning form Ted Deutch, and said he was not sure about recusal because he is "not a lawyer".
"Mr Lewandowski that's abuse of power," Mr Deutch says of the president's attempt to push Mr Lewandowski to tell Mr Sessions to comment publicly on the issue.
Representative John Ratcliffe is trying to brand Democrats as "the party of impeachment".
Mr Lewandowski tried to crack a joke that he feels "very lucky" to be the first witness before the committee.
Democrats in New Hampshire are mocking Mr Lewandowski for his performance today, in which he has basically refused to answer any question from Democrats:
Mr Lewandowski reportedly plans on running for the Senate in New Hampshire.
"I wanted to have the opportunity to speak with Jeff [Sessions] in a more relaxed atmosphere," when asked why he didn't want a public log of his meeting with Mr Sessions, after Mr Trump asked him to ask the former attorney general to fire Robert Mueller.
Rep Karen Bass has noted that Mr Lewandowski sought a private meeting, and that he was not an employee of the White House.
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